Bleaching the Common
by invertedcat
Summary: When Naruto, Neji, Sasuke, and Gaara are sent to soul society to become shinigami, what adventures will follow? BleachxNaru crossover. CHAP 4 IS UP. First couple chaps are really just introduction material.
1. The Beginning of a Problem

Ok just some things you should know. First of all, I don't own Bleach or Naruto. Duh. Secondly, I know I do my passages of speaking weird, and it may get confusing at times, but I'm trying my best to make it easy to understand. Thirdly, before you read this fanfiction, you might want to have a basic knowledge of most of Bleach and Naruto. If you don't it's not my fault you get lost. Lastly, to make the fic easier to understand for the first couple of chapters, ------ denotes a setting change. You'll understand once you start reading. Happy reading, and let me know what you think!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was mid-July in Konoha. The breeze was calmly flowing around the houses and buildings. The birds were singing lightly and the inhabitants of the village came outside to enjoy the rare, beautiful weather. The sun was shining brightly as Naruto stepped outside to begin, unbeknownst to him, his last day on the earth.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

While the people of Konoha reveled in the beautiful weather that they were experiencing, things in Soul Society were less pleasant. Although Aizen had been defeated and the Espada tamed, the paperwork following such a huge event was extremely disheartening. Kuchiki Rukia, newly appointed captain of the 5th division of the Gotei 13, stared at the papers piled on her desk.

"Hinamori!"

"Yes Captain?"

"Finish this paperwork."

"But…."

"Don't give me that. You need to get your mind off of….you know."

Hinamori sighed. It was true. Ever since she had been betrayed by Aizen-Sama life had been hard to bear. It was often that she would stare at her Zanpakutou and wish she could just….

"Hinamori!"

"Sorry Captain. I was lost in my thoughts."

"Don't worry about it. Just help me with these papers so I can rest already."

"Yes Captain."

"And stop it with that "Yes Captain" and "Sorry Captain" stuff. It's Rukia."

"Sorry Rukia."

"That's better. Now let's finish these papers…."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Walking down the street, Naruto greeted all of his fellow townspeople with recognizing "Hello's" and "Good Morning's." Ever since he played a role in the defeat of the Akatsuki and helped to unite all of the great countries, people began to accept him; even admire him. He had to admit, it felt good. However, he was trying his best not to let it go to his head….

"Hey Naruto!"

"Neji! Sasuke! …Gaara..?"

Gaara rolled his eyes.

"It's nice to see you too Naruto."

Sasuke folded his arms.

"We're going on a mission. There's been a bunch of odd disappearances along the new path in the Forest of Death. You know. The tourist route."

Naruto's face brightened as he realized that this was Sasuke's very round-a-bout way of asking if he wanted to come. He realized he needed to be indirect too to do this right.

"Well, you only have three people. If it's an "A" ranked mission, which I bet it is,

you're gonna need four people."

At this point Naruto pointedly "looked around" for anyone.

"Well, it looks like I'm the only one around. I guess I'm in the mood for a mission. Let's go."

As they walked towards the Forest of Death Neji smirked. He edged closer to Naruto and whispered,

"You could have just said yes…."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Captain General Yamamoto stood up.

"This emergency meeting of the captains of the Gotei 13 has officially begun. Before we begin, I need a sound off from each of the captains of the 2nd through 13th squad."

"Captain of the 2nd squad, Soi Fong!

"I am present!"

"Newly Appointed Captain of the 3rd squad, Urahara Kisuke!"

"Yeah, I'm here. Though quite unwillingl-"

"Captain of the 4th squad, Unohana Retsu!"

"I am here, and ready to serve."

"Newly Appointed Captain of the 5th squad, Kuchiki Rukia!"

"Yes sir. I am here."

"Captain of the 6th squad, Kuchiki Byakuya!"

"Here."

"Captain of the 7th squad, Komamura Sajin!"

"Yes my lord."

"Captain of the 8th squad, Kyouraku Shunsui!"

"……."

"Shunsui?"

"……."

"Someone wake Shunsui up. Captain of the 9th squ-"

"Will you shut up already and get to it? You can see we're all here!"

"Hmph….you're as polite as always Urahara.'

"Hm."

"Alright, because Urahara insists we begin, here's the reason why we're here…."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sasuke, Naruto, Gaara, and Neji entered the Forest of Death with a huge foreboding feeling.

"You know," Naruto said, "This forest is really dangerous. Why do they have a tourist path again?"

Before anyone could answer him, a huge burst of chakra, almost crippling in strength, was released from the forest.

"You can just feel the chakra radiating from this forest," Naruto noted.

"Yeah, this is definitely unnatural. Maybe we should turn back and come back with more forces," Neji wisely advised, "I have a really bad feeling about this."

"Heh, there's nothing I can't handle," Gaara snidely remarked. "This chakra is nothing."

"Shut up all of you," Sasuke whispered, "Do you hear that?"

A rustling from the bushes farther up the path gathered all their attention. Suddenly something so fast that it couldn't be seen was rumbling down the path towards them.

"Scatter!" Sasuke yelled.

The four immediately jumped high up into the trees surrounding the path. The thing that had been running towards them stopped in its tracks.

"Wh-What the heck is that thing?" Naruto asked in awe.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Captain General Yamamoto finally got everyone's attention, even Urahara's.

"The problem we faced is a great one. The 13 seals that we placed on Hueco Mundo have begun to fade, as we foresaw when we placed them there. This has caused Hollows to enter the realm of the earth again."

"So the newly-renovated Earthly realm is suffering from a few hollows. So what? Maybe we can start doing our jobs again."

"Urahara, I think you fail to see the seriousness of the situation. The new earth realm is highly unstable and even the slightest unbalance in the fabric of space-time could spell destruction for the entire earth."

"Perhaps we could re-cast the seals?"

"That would normally be a good idea Shunsui, but the Hadou for the 13 seals of the Gotei can only be performed once by each Captain during their lifetime"

"This is quite the dire problem."

"Thank you for understanding the seriousness of our situation Byakuya," Yamamoto said as he shot Urahara a scathing glance, "Does anyone have any ideas?"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I think this is the end of chapter one. I hoped you enjoyed it. I'm working on chapter two as we speak, so R&R, if you please. And btw, sorry if anyone is OOC. I'm not the best when it comes to that...


	2. The Problem Unfolds

I'm back again. Welcome to chapter 2 of my fanfiction. I swear this one is more exciting. Promise. ….--. You know the deal, I don't own naruto or bleach, blah, blah, blah, ---- means setting change. Just read it already, what are you waiting for ;P.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Four legs, two sets of wings, a huge mace-like tail, and to top it all off, a hideous skull-like mask. The monster sent shivers down Naruto's spine. What could it be? Perhaps it was some new bioengineered weapon from the sound village, or some remnant of Pain's crazy biological experiments. Maybe it was…

"SSSsssss……"

Naruto's train of thought was broken when the ground underneath the monster turned into quicksand. The beast immediately sank out of sight. Gaara walked up to the perimete of the quicksand.

"I've buried the...thing…under nearly two-hundred feet of sand," he said, "Now it's time to finish this nonsense. Sabaku Sousou. Desert Coffin."

Naruto's concerns immediately disappeared. This was Gaara's signature move that had never been beaten. They were done messing around in this stupid forest once and for all.

"A..Aack…"

"Gaara!"

Naruto's concerned yell fell on deaf ears. Gaara's body imploded and fell to the ground, a bloody mess.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rukia lay on her bed, toying with the ribbon on her Zanpakutou. There was way too much on her mind. A hollow entering the realm of the earth again was just too much to grasp. The Sage of the Six Realms was supposed to solve that problem indefinitely. He had told them that even though the 13 seals of the Gotei 13 would fail in time, his would never fail for as long as the two worlds were balanced. It had been long since that a shinigami's duty had been changed from destroying hollows and bringing pluses to the soul society. Their new job had been to keep the balance between the worlds at all costs. Because they could not enter the earth because of the sage's seal, that job had become the worst imaginable. As the reishi of the soul society became higher than the earth, many shinigami that were deemed "useless" were executed. The whole process was played off as an "honor" but anyone Vice-Captain and above knew the truth.

But now the seal was broken. There must have been an enormous amount of reishi in one person for this to happen, and that alone was frightening. It was rather comforting to know that she was far away from this mess…

"Rukia!" A yell from outside broke her train of thought.

"Hinamori?" Rukia rushed to the window. "What's wrong?"

"We're wanted immediately by Captain General Yamamoto," She yelled back.

Rukia sighed. It was certainly sizing up to be a very long day.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Back in the Forest of Death, the Forest was certainly living up to its name. Gaara lay on the ground, cold and seemingly lifeless. Naruto ran over to him.

"Gaara," he painfully said, "What's wrong? Get up. Get up! You Bas-"

"Foolish boy." The monster was back out of the ground and standing behind Naruto. "He's dead. Can't you see that? And you know what the best part is? He killed himself!"

"Wh-what are you talking about? He didn't kill himself!" Naruto's eyes grew wide. "You killed him! And now I'm going to kill yo-"

Sasuke grabbed Naruto and retreated a good distance away from the clearing. "Naruto you idiot," He said "Can't you see what happened to Gaara? That monster _reversed_ his attack. Gaara did kill himself. Or, more accurately, Gaara's ignorance killed him. He should have analyzed his opponent first."

Naruto brushed sasuke's hands off. "Who's side are you on anyways?! That…_thing_…just killed Gaara! Aren't you going to do anything?!"

Sasuke slapped Naruto. "Get a grip on yourself! Just because Gaara's dead doesn't mean we need to rush in there and join him! We need to think this through!"

Neji appeared out of the underbrush, breathing heavily and limping. "It's just as I thought," He said, "That thing reverses all attacks used on it. Not just ninjutsu, but taijutsu as well are both reversed." He toppled over. "Ugh…my chakra points are all closed and _I_ did it." He laughed weakly. "That's pretty embarrassing huh?"

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rukia and Hinamori rushed to the meetinghouse.

"Any idea what this is all about?" Rukia asked.

"Heh. No idea at all, but I hope it's not another execution I have to do," Hinamori said, cringing.

Arriving at the meetinghouse, the pair of shinigamis ran up the stairs and into the main meeting room. They saluted Captain General Yamamoto.

Yamamoto spoke, "It's good that you two could make it here so fast. I found the source of the huge disbalance in reishi. Unsurprisingly, he is under attack right now by a rather powerful hollow."

Rukia shook her head. "Then he doesn't need our help. Once with his amount of reishi should have no problem even defeating one of the higher espada."

Yamamoto wrinkled his brow. "That would be the case normally…but from my information source; he has no idea how to use his spiritual energy in a way that will harm any hollow, let alone one as powerful as this."

Rukia frowned. "Exactly how strong is the hollow anyways?

Yamamoto sighed. "It's about as strong as a sixth espada…"

Rukia slapped her forehead. It _was_ going to be a long day.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Naruto, Sasuke, and Neji sat down together trying to make a plan.

"I think that if we just hit it hard enough," Naruto proposed, "It won't be able to reverse our attacks because it probably has a power limit."

Sasuke sighed. "Naruto, how about you go over there and find some water to help Neji recover? We can come up with a plan on our own. We'll just tell you what to do later, alright?"

Naruto shrugged and went to look for a stream.

"Ok Neji," Sasuke said, "What else did you find out in your attack?"

"Not much," Neji sighed, "Its power is reversal of chakra, which means that any attack you use on it that involves chakra is somehow reversed onto you."

Sasuke frowned. "How does it reverse Taijutsu then?"

Neji grimaced. "I was just getting to that...I have no idea."

"HEY GUYS!" Naruto was running. "I DIDN'T FIND WATER, BUT THAT THING FOUND ME!"

Neji and Sasuke sighed. As if the mission wasn't hard enough…

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rukia and Hinamori winced as the portal to the earth opened. They both took a deep breath and plunged through. Once on the other side, they were relieved. The Sage of the Six Realms's seal really had been broken.

"That's certainly a bitter-sweet," Rukia commented, "Hollows are back on the earth, but we didn't die coming here."

Hinamori smiled slightly. "Heh. You do feel that reishi right?"

Rukia laughed. "Who wouldn't? That must be his. It completely overshadows the hollow's reishi."

They jumped off of the landing platform and into the forest.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As the monster barreled towards them back in the clearing, Sasuke, Neji, and Naruto decided that Naruto's plan was their best bet. It must have a limit to its powers, right? As it was simultaneously hit with chidori, rasengan, and 128 palms, the monster emitted what resembled a chuckle.

Sasuke fell back, a hole burned through his chest. "D-damn…" he whispered.

Neji flew backwards and hit a tree with a resounding crack, then fell to the ground and moved no more.

Naruto's rasengan burned a hole through the beast, but through himself as well. He kneeled, and then fell straight down, an enormous hole through his torso.

"Thought you'd try the old 'Hit him with everything we've got' approach, eh? Unfortunately, your attacks are not honed to kill a hollow. However, you got pretty close." With this the monster lifted Naruto off the ground with one claw. "You're interesting for sure."

"Sh-shut up. Y-you bastard….hollow isn't even a noun…it's a frickin adjective…"

Sasuke's last words were, rather appropriately, correcting Naruto.

"Naruto you idiot. Hollow can be a noun too. Not only did he kill us, but you're embarrassing us too…"

At this the hollow laughed. "It's good to know that my feast of souls will be of those who have a sense of humor!"

"Sorry hollow, but your feast of souls has been postponed…" Rukia drew her blade, "…Forever."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yeah that last line is kinda lame, but w/e. Thanks for reading, await more updates. It's winter break, so I'm aiming for one chapter every 2 or 3 days. Reviews really do make me work faster, or else this wouldn't be up now.


	3. The Problem Deepens

Uh…haha. Every 2-3 days was a reasonable goal, until I got guitar hero three. Sorry to put you guys on hold….but it's way too fun. I'll try to get out one chapter every week (the keyword being try). Thank you everyone who reviewed! Anyways, happy reading. Oh yeah, --- indicates a pov change or a setting change in this chapteri . You'll see..

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The hollow looked Rukia over. "…Wait a second..you're a.."  
"Shinigami. That is correct." Rukia looked at the hollow carefully.

"He doesn't look as strong as an espada," She thought, "Let alone a sixth espada. He doesn't even look human, nor does he have a zanpakutou…."

"You stupid shinigami," The hollow said, "You have no idea what you're dealing with. How dare you-"

A red wound opened up on the monsters shoulder, spouting blood everywhere.

"WHAT THE-" The monster screamed, "YOU DIDN'T LET ME FINISH!"

Rukia sighed. How embarrassing.

"You are not supposed to be here, hollow. This world is off limits since the defeat of Aizen. I, Kuchiki Rukia am charged with sending you to soul society or hell, whichever you belong in. Please prepare yourself."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Naruto lay bleeding on the ground. What the heck was going on? This monster appears; defeating the strongest ninja in the village without even breaking a sweat, and then this woman appears and claims that she is going to send the monster to hell?

"Hey..Lady…" Naruto gasped, "Get….out of here….that thing is…too strong…"

The woman turned towards him, wide-eyed.

"You can see me?"

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rukia was stricken by a wave of nostalgia. She remembered that day.

_It is near._

_Wh-what the heck do you mean "it is near?" What are you doing in my room!?!_

_Y-you can see me?_

"That's right…I said the same thing that day….it can't be…"

The resemblance was clear. This boy looked just like Ichigo…

"Hey…Lady.." He said, "Did you hear me? Get out of here…this guy is seriously…strong.."

"Don't worry kid. I've faced much-AH!"

Rukia was cut off as a blade went through her shoulder.

"Heh. What kind of shinigami are you anyways? You think the first hollow sent to the new earth would be anything less than an espada? We'll see how you cope with this. Ignite, Adustum."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Naruto watched in horror. The masked monster had, while the Lady was talking to him, changed shape into a human. No, not human, humanoid. It had then, before Naruto could utter a word, stabbed the Lady through the shoulder.

"Ignite, Adustum"

She screamed. It was a raucous, pained scream like none Naruto had heard before; it pierced to his bones and made him cry out himself.

"Heh. You are quite amusing, shinigami. However, you did not analyze your situation well," the monster said, "You were told I was as strong as an Espada, yet you let appearances and mannerisms deceive you. But don't worry, you won't die yet. Let me tell you about my zanpakutou. Adustum has the ability to, once having pierced the enemy's flesh, send electrical signals through the enemy's nervous system. This results in all sorts of fun things, like what you just experienced. I can induce pain, pleasure, scents, sounds, feelings, tastes, and images. But the best thing about Adustum is that it causes no damage to my enemy. You'll last as long as I let you. Let's have some fun, shall we?"

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Damnit," Rukia thought, "I let that stupid boy's phrase distract me. But it's not all his fault. The hollow's right, I shouldn't have made assumptions based on appearance."

"Hinamori," she said out loud, "Get out of here. I don't want you to die with me."

"But Rukia..," Hinamori started, "I won't just run away shamelessly."

"F-fine," Rukia stuttered in pain, "Go to get help. Tell them I won't be able to handle it without another captain."

"But-"

"Just do it!"

"Yes Captain.."

Hinamori began to run in the other direction and the hollow began to follow, but Rukia stood in his path.

"I am your opponent," she said.

"Hah. I already showed you are difference in strength, and you still wish to fight? Foolish shinigami, I'll teach you a lesson you won't forget."

Rukia laughed. "You caught me off-guard once and claim to be stronger than me? I believe you will be the one learning a lesson today. Once again, prepare yourself."

Rukia chuckled uncontrollably to herself. There was no way she could defeat this hollow. He wasn't as strong as a sixth Espada; he was at least as strong as Ulquoirra. This was truly frightening, but she must hold him until reinforcements arrive.

"Mae, Sode no Shirayuki."

The trademark circle from Rukia's zanpakutou appeared under the hollow. He immediately moved out of the way, but the circle followed him.

"Some no Mai, Tsukishiro! First dance! White Moon!"

The circle performed its job well; the hollow was frozen solid.

"It can't be this easy," Rukia thought, "He'll break free."

And of course, he did.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hinamori ran like her life depended on it, straight to the meetinghouse and right into a meeting of the captains. She flushed deeply, and almost bowed out.

"Wait a second," she thought, "I can't leave! Rukia is depending on me!"

She summed up all her courage and spoke.

"General Captain Yamamoto! Rukia is in grave danger! We need reinforcements right now!"

Yamamoto chuckled. "My dear child, that's what we were just discussing. Urahara is going with you right now. _Isn't that right Urahara_?"

Urahara mumbled something incoherent, stood up, and herded Hinamori outside.

"Let's get this over with, shall we?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As the ice that had gathered on the monster cracked, every cell in Rukia's body screamed at her to run. _Run_, and escape death. _Run_ and leave these stupid kids to die. _Just run_! But of course, reason and clarity collected in her thoughts.

"If the hollow devours these souls, it will become impossible for even the strongest shinigami to defeat," she thought, "I must at least hold it off until reinforcements arrive."

The ice cracked once more. She shivered uncontrollably. With one defining CRACK the ice broke and the Espada stepped out, brushing off it's shoulder as a sign of dominance.

"That was quite a feat, shinigami. But I sense that that is all you have in you. Am I wrong?"

Rukia gritted her teeth in annoyance. It was'nt all she had. But she couldn't unveil that here, not now.

"Ah, so it's not your strongest move? I'll just have to force your strongest move out of you!"

And he was gone. He just disappeared into thin air. But then, _a noise behind her_! She quickly turned to parry, but not fast enough. The zanpakutou of the hollow sunk deep into her shoulder, connecting with the wound it had made before.

"AUGH!," She screamed, despite the great lengths she tried to depress it.

"The hollow smiled his cynical smile and chuckled in a horrifying, bloodcurdling way.

"Igni-"

"Oh holy spirits of the ice,"

The hollow disappeared again.

"Unite and bring unto thy humble servant thy power. Gather in my blade to bring death to my enemy. Futame no Mai, Tsukiakai! Third Dance, Red Moon! Ban-Kai!"

The pure white of the Sode no Shirayuki turned a deep, blood red. Protruding ridges sprouted from the tip of the top of the blade and ran down to the hilt, which had turned black. Rukia winced in pain as her wound from the hollow disappeared.

"And finally the last stage! Zen! Complete!"

Rukia's shinigami robes were consumed by black flames, revealing her slender form beneath. Two black lines, right beneath her shoulder blades, grew steadily more prominent until, in a shower of blood and feathers, a set of wondrous black wings burst forth. The wings wrapped around her naked body and then unfolded, revealing black robes traced with red embroidered flames. A yin-yang symbol embroidered in gold was centered in the back of the robes beneath the holes for the wings.

"Now it truly begins."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Phew. That was amazing to write. I hope it's even more amazing to read. It turns out it's more fun to invent stuff for characters than I originally thought. Anyways, stay tuned for next week for chapter 4! Oh, and if my internet searched Japanese is truly terrible, let me know and I'll fix it. Read and Review!

Some info:

Japanese terms are subtly translated .

But about the Adustum thing.

It's latin. I hope you don't mind. I like latin. It basically means something along the lines of "Consume by flame" the original idea was to make it a flame based sword that caused a burning pain when released (hence the release command ignite), but I wanted to create a more "torturing" kind of hollow, so I made it a different type in order to "keep his victims alive."

Also, the long Ban-Kai chant is something from Mahou Sensei Negima. I thought it'd sound cool, so I put it in. Let me know what you think (R&R). Hint Hint. Until next week!


	4. Some Plot

Ok so, one chapter a week doesn't exactly happen when your computer breaks twice and you have robotics every night. But I finally got this chapter done and I present to you Chapter 4! I think this one is pretty good.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The irises of Rukia's eyes glowed a dark red as she swiftly pursued the hollow. An intense anger burned deep in her soul; she could not shake it off.

"I guess the most powerful Bankai in the spirit realm does not come without some side-effects… But it's getting exceedingly hard to stay level headed. At this rate, I'll go berserk…"

There it was. She rushed towards it at full speed, aiming for its head. A jet of red blade cut a clean shard out of the mask as the hollow dodged at the last minute.

"So this is your full power, huh? At this rate I won't last very long, but I can still have some fun."

A paroxysm of attacks was the reply to the hollows useless banter. Flashes of red danced left and right as the exchange of blows were barely blocked by the hollow.

"Heh," the hollow said between blows, "You're different…now. So much…anger. You'll never…win...this way."

With this, the hollow stabbed with his zanpakutou. Rukia dodged and attempted to parry with deadly force.

"Too late," the hollow laughed, "Arrancar style Ban-Kai, Initiate."

There was no time to dodge.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Urahara effortlessly stepped into the new earth.

"The air seems crisper. That's a plus. Oh, yuck. What is that reishi. It feels like a demon."

"We presume," Hinamori said, "That that's the reishi of the disbalance."

"What? I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but that's the reishi of the hollow," Urahara laughed, "The disbalance must be dead. I can't feel his reishi at all… maybe if I look on one of the other planes..."

Urahara stared into thin air for a moment, switching over the other spiritual planes, then reeled backwards.

"My god, that reishi _is_ huge. No wonder there was a disbalance. The hollow seems like nothing in comparison. Geez." He scratched his head sheepishly. "I could be sleeping right now y'know…"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lightning erupted from every one of Rukia's pores. Her skin turned black as the electrical burns started to spread all over her bodies. As it crinkled like the skin of a blackened sausage, Rukia screamed in pain.

"There's no way I'm going to survive this," she thought, "This insane power is just too much for me. Even with my ban-kai initiated, I can barely stand."

The hollow laughed as Rukia burned on his blade.

"You foolish shinigami. None of you could even injure me. And you even initiated your Ban-kai. Looks like you need more practice. Oh, wait. You're going to die here. I guess you _should have_ practiced more then."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Naruto looked on with horror. He could not believe his eyes. The shinigami who had seemed so powerful to begin with was being killed, right in front of him. Was there no one who could kill this monster? He looked over at Neji and Sasuke and immediately wished he hadn't. They were both obviously dead. There was no way to bring them back. Naruto's eyes filled with tears as he realized his first real friends were all dead. Then he choked on his sob, realizing that he was not long behind. The only thing keeping that monster from killing him was the shinigami who was roasting on the monster's sword. Could the day get any worse?

Then he heard a rustle in the trees and looked up. Two people fell down through the trees. They were dressed in the same clothes as the first shinigami, and one of them was the girl who had been there before. The man who was with here opened his mouth, yawned, then chuckled.

"Rukia, you seem to be in a spot of trouble, huh?"

"…Oh, sorry. I'm guessing you probably can't speak. My bad. Why don't you come on over here?"

Suddenly the girl being cooked by the hollow was over in the man's arms. All Naruto had heard was the rustle of the man's clothes. He could see the man's robes gently flapping in the wind.

"There, there my dear. You are looking rather well done. Hinamori, tend to her."

"Yes, Urahara-sama."

"Geez, so formal. There's no need for that. In any case, time to send this hollow to hell."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Urahara looked at the hollow. It's strength was high for sure. But it was an easy win.

"Will you stop talking like I'm not even here old man?," the hollow said, "I will not lose to you!"

"On the contrary my dear friend. You will lose, because I brought this along."

Urahara pulled a glass sphere with a stopper out of his pocket. He unstopped it and pointed the end towards the hollow. A narrow stream of reishi flowed from bottle to the hollow.

"What is this?! I'm being sucked in! What trickery is this you bas-"

The hollow was cut short as he was sucked into the sphere, leaving his sword behind. Urahara gingerly picked it up.

"Hinamori, how is she?"

"I can not say Urahara. Her entire body is burnt to a crisp. I can't do anything for her."

"Well that's too bad. I can do something for her though."

Urahara took the glass sphere and pushed it up against the hilt of the hollow's zanpakutou. The sphere was sucked into the hilt and the sword glowed blue.

"Now what was his release command again?"

"I don't know Urahara…I wasn't here when he released it."

"Uh-oh. I don't know it either."

A tiny voice came from the ground by a tree.

"It's Adustum…the release command is adustum…"

"Oh. You must be the disbalance. I was unaware that you were still alive. Thank you for the advice. You can go die now."

Urahara held the sword firmly in his hands.

"Adustum," he whispered, cringing.

The sword glowed red, then blue again. He placed it on Rukia's chest. Electricity spread down her body again, but it was a beautiful sky blue. The burnt skin began to peal off and healed skin was visible beneath it. Her breathing began to ease, and her wings disappeared in an explosion of black feathers.

"Well, that should do the trick."

"Urahara, what exactly was that?," Hinamori asked.

"I captured the hollow in my patented hollow capture glass, and then I used his power with his zanpakutou to reverse the effects of his Ban-kai. It's quite simple really."

Rukia opened her eyes. She began to speak.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rukia was floating on beautiful white clouds in a clear blue sky. She sat down on one. Am I truly dead now? Was I unable to defeat the hollow?

A man appeared in front of her. She gasped. It was Ichigo.

"So I am dead. We're both dead. But I am glad to finally be with you…"

"Don't be and idiot Rukia. You're not dead. You're merely in the purgatory, the area between life and death. I've never really understood it myself, because shinigamis are supposedly already dead and blahdy blah blah. That's not important. What is important is what's going on in the new earth right now.

That disbalance you met is actually one of my descendents. The reason he's such a disbalance is because reishi gets collected throughout the generations and gets bigger and bigger. The reishi I started with has magnified into his. It is certainly a problem."

"But Ichigo," Rukia said, "The disbalance is dead, or is going to die soon. There's nowhere to send him because he's such a problem."

"That's why I'm here to talk to you. I have orders from on high." He paused. ".._Way_ on high, to make sure you take him to soul society. He is to be trained as a shinigami."

Rukia laughed.

"Ichigo, that's insane. Do you realize how many shinigami will have to be killed to allow something as huge as him in? The balance will be completely disregarded!"

"Rukia. You're not thinking again. The balance doesn't matter anymore."

Rukia looked puzzled. Ichigo continued.

"The Sage of the Six Realms' seal has already been broken by him. The captain's seals on Heuco Mundo have faded. Don't you see what this means? The Golden Age of Shinigamis has returned! You will get your duties back! The hollows will begin to attack the earth again, and shinigamis will be given the same task they had for centuries!"

Rukia was filled with a tumult of emotions. As with any girl, she blurted them out to the one she trusted.

"But Ichigo, even though we won't have to perform any more sacrifices, isn't it a bad thing that the hollows are able to enter the realm of the earth?"

"Not at all! That's how the human race progressed so far in the last incarnation of the earth. This time around it's even more important because the race is so violent. Something has to be there to teach them a lesson. But you will need strong shinigami. That's why you have to keep the disbalance."

"Uh-oh. Sorry Rukia. I have to go. I'm being summoned."

"Summoned? Just how important are you?"

"Let's just say that even god needs a royal guard."

Ichigo smiled a huge smile and slowly disappeared. The last thing to go was his smile. Rukia woke up and saw Urahara above her. Oh great.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yep, less action this chapter, more plot. I'm trying to make the plot an interesting part of this story, so don't lost interest yet! R&R if you like it


End file.
